Wire guide and tube cleaner



Jan. 1925- 1,523,754

E. C'HIPPEAUX WIRE GUIDE AND TUBE CLEANER Filed Feb. 21, 1924 IN V EN TOR.

Patented den. 20, 1925.

UNITED STATES EUGENE CHIPPEAUX, OF ARCADIA, KANSAS.

WIRE GUIDE AND TUBE CLEANER.

Application filed February 21, 1924. Serial No. 694,446.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that EUGENE CHIPPEAUX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Au cadia, in the county of Crawford and State of Kansas has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire Guides and Tube Cleaners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wire guides and tube cleaners and it consists in the novel features hereinafter described and claimed.

An object of the invention is to provide a device of the character stat-ed especially adapted to be used by miners for cleaning their lamp tubes. whereby the cleaning opeation may be accomplished in the dark.

Owing to the fact that miners are confined for long periods of time in darkened cavities, they as a general rule have poor eyesight and are unable to promptly direct cleaning devices to the openings in their lamps to clean them. It is an object of the present invention to provide means for readily directing the cleaning member of the device toward the opening in the lamp so that the device may be passed through the opening by simply pushing the same and not by twisting and during the longitudinal movement of the cleaning element the obstruction which is in the lamp is removed and the opening therein is cleaned.

The device includes a cylinder provided at one end with a socket having a coneshaped wall and a cone-shaped nipple portion centrally positioned in the socket. A hole passes longitudinally through the inner end wall of the said socket and is extended into a sleeve provided at the interior of the cylinder. The opposite end portion of the cylinder is closed by a screw cap. A stem is mounted for longitudinal movement in the cylinder and through the cap thereof and is provided with a reduced end portion which operates through the wall adjacent the socket. A coil spring is housed within the cylinder and interposed between the end wall thereof and a disk mounted upon the said stem. The spring is under tension with a tendency to hold the reduced end of the stem housed in the sleeve and the nipple of the cylinder. Tubular casing sections are applied to the opposite ends of the cylinder and they house the inlet opening of the socket and also the outer end of the stem and the head which is mounted thereon.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view or the wire guide and tube cleaner.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view thereof cut on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is aside elevation of the same.

The wire guide and tube cleaner comprises a cylinder 1 provided at one end with a socket 2 having conical side walls 3 which merge at their inner portions in arcuat-e surfaces 4 and the said surfaces are extended into the side surfaces of a cone-shaped nipple 5 located at the center of the socket 2. A solid wall portion 6 is disposed transversely across the interior of the cylinder 1 behind the socket 2 and a sleeve 7 extends inwardly from the wall 6 and is concentrically positioned with relation to the cylinder 1. A bore 8 traverses the length of the sleeve 7 passes transversely through the wall 6, and traverses the length of the nipple 5 and opens at the pointed end thereof. A cap 9 is screwed into the opposite end of the cylinder 1 and is provided with a central opening 10. A stem 11 is slidably mounted in the cylinder 1. The intermediate portion of the stem 11 passes through the opening 10 and the end portion of the said stem enters the bore- 8. Thatportion of the stem 11 which enters the bore 8 is reduced diametrically and forms a wire shaped extremity 12 which is pointed at its end as at 13.

A disk 14 is mounted upon the intermediate portion of the stem 11 and is housed within the cylinder 1. A coil spring 15 is interposed between the inner surface of the wall 6 and the inner surface of the disk 1% and is under tension with a tendency to hold the disk 14 toward the inner surface of the cap 9. A head or button 16 is mounted upon the outer end of the stem 11. Cylindrical casing members 17 and 18 are arranged to slide over the exterior surface of the cylinder 1 and enclose the end portions thereof and the inner edges of the said casing sections 17 and 18 are adapted to abut against an annular flange 19 provided at the intermediate portion of the e20 terior surface of the cylinder 1.

In operation, the casing sections 17 and 18 are removed from the cylinder 1 and the end of the tube which is to be cleaned is inserted in the socket 2 whereby the conical walls 3 center the said tube and direct the same in forced into the tube and a passageway through the tube is opened;

Therefore it will beseen that the tube,

may be cleaned by inserting the end'thereof in the socketand this may beaccomplished in;the dark as Welllas inithe light and when the end of the tube isinserted in theso'cket the opening or/passageway through the tube is positioned in a-linement with the stem so-that when the'stem is moved the-cleaning end thereof is passed through the tube and the passageway through-the tube is readily opened or cleaned Having described the invention, what is claimed is:

A-Wire'guideand tube cleaner comprisr ing a cylinder provided at one end with a socket having; a con1calsurface which merges at its inner portion with arcuate surfaces, said arcuate surfaces merging with the exterior surfaces of a cone-shaped nipple provided at the center of the socket, a

wall disposed transversely of the. cylinder atthe inner end of the socket and provided at its inner face with a sleeve, the bore of the sleeve passing transversely through the wall and traversing thezlength of the nipple, a cap. closing the. opposite end of the cylinder, a spring interposed between the wall and a member fixed to the stem, said stem having a diametrically reduced end portion which is normally housed within the bore, and a disk carried at the outer end. of the stem.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

EUGENE 'CHIPPEAUX. 

